Author
Topic: Red Dawn (Read 2571 times)

Ah the idea for this story is credited to Mikan and her flaming Tsuji. Read Doki Doki b*tch!

Red Dawn

Nono was burning up. No, really, she was on fire. Jerking into awareness, Tsuji realized that her sleeve had caught fire and the flame was lazily consuming the fabric. Having experience with these things, she calmly patted it out, sitting up and surveying the scene around her.

It looked like how she imagined hell would be, fire crawling up the wallpaper, support beams fallen through the ceiling, sections of the floor and ceiling missing, it seemed that the building was burning. Hot, too.

Looking to her left, she noticed her best friend and partner in crime, Kago Ai, curled up on the ground, coughing in her sleep. Grabbing her arm, Nono pulled her away from a curious flame and inspected her for damage. Aside from being a little sooty, she seemed fine; the only real problem was the bump on her forehead.

How had that gotten there? The last thing Tsuji could remember was W, the return of W. Aibon’s punishment had finally been lifted and they were rehearsing for the up coming winter concert. Someone had come in the room screaming to evacuate, and then smoke and flames. A shove from behind and a crash, then nothing.

Looking around again, Tsuji noticed one of the fallen beams, blocking the hallway in front of her. Had Aibon pushed her out of the way of that? She was sure that was it, so it was her fault that the younger girl had been hurt. Then she’d get them out.

Standing up resolutely, Nono absently wondered why she wasn’t terrified. Meh, it was prolly shock or something. She gently situated Aibon up onto her back, already starting to sweat and began walking down the hallway towards the stairs. It was slow going, the floor was unstable and she had to dodge flaming debris constantly.

Finally reaching her destination and finding it miraculously unblocked, she shifted her cargo for better balance and kicked open the door. Setting her foot back on the ground, she realized that the heat from the door had melted the bottom of her shoe slightly, causing her to stick to the carpet.

Sighing angrily she entered the stairwell, ripping her foot off the floor every other step. Pausing she stared at the damage in front of her, while there wasn’t a fire in here now, it sure looked like there had been one recently. Everything- the walls, the floor, the ceiling- was charred and black. A feeling of dread settled deep in her stomach and she adjusted Aibon again before starting slowly down the stairs.

“We were on the seventh floor.” She said, panting slightly, to the unconscious girl on her back. “So, let’s see, sixth, fifth, fourth. We’re almost there Aibon, just hang on.” The shock was wearing off and she could feel tears start to come to her eyes. She blinked them away, “It’s hard being strong without you to talk to me or call me a baby.”

She passed by the big three on the wall and smiled, rounding the corner quickly, then skidding to a stop and letting out a dismayed cry. The stairs between the third and second floors were missing. Something exploded just above her and she shrieked, looking up to see flames crawling down the walls towards her.

She made a split second decision and jumped the gap. Time seemed to slow down as she flew through the air, Aibon still attached to her back. Then the floor came up to meet her and for a second she was sure that she had doomed them, that they would fall to their deaths, but she landed hard on the platform, falling to her knees and dropping her partner on her side.

Crying from relief, Nono tried to stand but a sharp pain in her right leg stopped her. Collapsing over her friend, she waited for the flames to take them, hoping against hope that maybe Aibon would survive if she took the brunt of the damage. She started sobbing, apologizing to her friend and begging the gods to intervene.

A hand touching her face froze her in her tracks, “What’re crying for, you baby?” she opened her eyes and, stunned, looked into the weakly smiling face of her partner. “We’re not dead yet, are we?” she was obviously not all there, taking their impending doom so calmly, but she was awake and coherent and that was good.

“You’re alright!” Nono smothered ecstatic kisses over her cheeks, still crying, but much happier.

Aibon looked over her friend’s shoulder at where the flames seemed to hover above them, “Help me up, we have to get moving.”

“I hurt my leg again. I can’t stand.” The older girl looked ashamed, as if it was somehow her fault.

“Then we’ll help each other.”

It took a while, but after a few false starts, the girls had managed to get to their feet, arms around each other’s shoulders. They made the long tedious trip down the rest of the stairs, thankful that the fire seemed confined to the upper floors for the time being. They reached the bottom and pushed open the cool door to see a clear hallway.

The feeling of doom started to lift and they made their way down the hall as fast as they could, seeing relief in the form of sunlight filtering through the blinds on the widows around them. Suddenly the ceiling exploded above their heads and fire swarmed out of the hole.

Acting on her goalie instinct, Tsuji pushed her friend forward, falling backwards herself, just as the ceiling fell right where the two had been standing. “Now we’re even!” she called laughingly across the flames.

“Nono!” Aibon screamed, only able to glimpse her partner, squinting her eyes against the extreme heat.

“Go on! Get help! I’ll find somewhere safe.” she heard a disembodied voice call to her from across the orangey abyss.

“I won’t leave without you! I’ll stay here.” The tears running down her face felt cool compared to the fire.

“Stupid! If you stay, we’re both done for! You’re so close to the exit, so exit dammit!” Tsuji knew she was right, and if she died, at least Aibon would live. Not like she planned on dying soon, though if they kept talking like this, the flames from the stairwell would catch up to her.

Aibon let out a choked sob, “I’m sorry, Nono! I’ll get help. I’ll be back soon!” she sprinted down the hallway to the door, hating herself all the way. If anything happened to Nono she’d never forgive herself.

She burst through the exit at full speed, almost mowing down some hapless firemen. One of them caught her and she started sobbing in his arms, “Please, you have to help her. Nono’s still inside!” suddenly it was really hard to breath. She kept repeating her message though, even after she was taken over to some paramedics and even when they placed an oxygen mask on her face.

A few of the H!P girls crowded around the ambulance Aibon was sitting in, eager to see how she was, but she brushed away their concern, continuing to ask about her partner. “Nono. Where’s Nono? Have they brought her out yet?” no one had the heart to say anything.

It was ten long minutes before the firemen came back out of the building, one of the carrying a small bundle in his arms, he quickly jogged over to the ambulance and set the small figure down on a gurney. Aibon sat up, fighting off worried hands, and turned to see her best friend lying so still in front of her.

Holding her breath, she watched the lifeless body and the chaos that surrounded it, paramedics frantically trying to perform CPR. Everyone was silent, hoping that it wasn’t true, that their friend was breathing. The paramedics stilled their efforts and spoke to each other in hushed voices, “Time? Okay, call it.”

And Aibon kept staring at her partner’s body, waiting to see her sit up and smile with a cheerful ‘Gotcha!’ but she didn’t move. She didn’t sit up and she didn’t smile, she never would again. The younger girl stared as if the sheer force of her thoughts could bring her friend back from the dead.

She continued to stare until someone rolled her body away. And then she howled her loss to the clear blue sky.

Like I'd kill Nono... Psh, yeah right.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sitting up with a scream, Aibon realized that she was dreaming. She also realized that she wasn’t in her own bed. Where was she?

A stuffed bunny came flying in from her left and smacked into her head, “Shut up. I’m trying to watch TV.” a familiar voice said with a laugh.

Looking over to the bed next to her, the younger girl saw, “Nono!”

“In the flesh.” She held out her arms in an inviting fashion and was pleased when her friend flew out of the bed to hug her around the waist. She wasn’t so pleased when she realized the younger girl was crying. Concerned, she pulled her up into the bed, wrapping her arms around her shoulders, “What’s the matter?”

“I dreamt you died.” was the heartbroken response. Hearing her weeping like that, Nono didn’t have the heart to tell her that she almost had.

They’d pronounced her dead at the scene, but she had revived soon after they took her body away. She’d given everyone a scare and been thoroughly scolded before they brought her and Aibon to recover in the hospital. But it was better if the younger girl thought it was just a dream.

“I’m not going anywhere. We still have the winter concert to do.” She gently stroked her partner’s back, letting her cry herself out. When it seemed as though the tears had stopped, she pressed a kiss to the top of Aibon’s head, “Feel better?”

Nodding pitifully, the younger girl rested her head on her friend’s shoulder, leaning back into her comfortably and staring down at her casted foot, “Didn’t you just get out of one of these?”

“Doc said I reinjured myself. So another three weeks in my miniature prison.” She sighed unhappily, but the conversation soon turned to brighter things, as if they almost hadn’t died just two days ago.

A news report suddenly interrupted the program the girls had been half watching and started recapping the fire at the TV Tokyo building, “We finally have the cause of that devastating blaze. It seems that a lit cigarette wasn’t properly disposed of and it caught a tablecloth on fire.”

Nono looked at Aibon accusingly, the younger girl just shrugged, “What? It wasn’t me, you made me quit, remember? Maybe it was Nakazawa-san’s or Mari’s.”

“You know I don’t think I like how familiar you are with Yaguchi-san these days.”

“She’s way too old for me. I’d go more for Yocchan or even you before I’d hit Mari.”

“Really? I favor Rika-chan myself.”

“I know you do.” The conversation dissolved into laughter.

Outside, even though the sky was clear, it began to rain.

----Wow, the conversation at the end was really random. But I managed to Write a W story where they aren't lovers. Go me!

I was freaking out the whole time. I started yelling at the computer. And then, there was that big gap and I was like what???? But then you put your little "Like I'd kill Nono" and I was so happy because Nono wasn't dead! And look what you've done! I'm a babbling fool now....

I was freaking out the whole time. I started yelling at the computer. And then, there was that big gap and I was like what???? But then you put your little "Like I'd kill Nono" and I was so happy because Nono wasn't dead! And look what you've done! I'm a babbling fool now....

Yay! I'm glad you liked it. For a second I was just going to leave it like that, but then it made me sad. I had, like, four different endings thought of and this is what came out.

Why does no one love me! If it's too long, you could at least say that!

Ah I'm late. But I love you and your incredible writing

I never thought I'll ever be happy to read one of those it was all a dream stories but I'm glad this one was. For that moment when I thought you really killed off Nono I was just staring at my monitor open-mouthed Thankfully it didn't happen *wipes sweat away*

OMG...imagine if you made it from other people's perspectives...like the one who actually lit the cigarette...OR...maybe even...dare I say it...the reason Kago's so familiar with Mari...I like dots....................................

Logged

If Helen Keller falls in the woods and no one is around, does she make a sound?

Official [WHOA] member, master and commander of the Tokunaga Chinami branch.

OMG...imagine if you made it from other people's perspectives...like the one who actually lit the cigarette...OR...maybe even...dare I say it...the reason Kago's so familiar with Mari...I like dots....................................

If I ever wrote a Mari/Aibon it would either have Nono suicide or Nono/Rika. So don't expect any of that any time soon.